Canadian Medical Guide > Organisms > Animals > Chordata > Vertebrates > Birds > Ratites Terms and Definitions
Ratites
Medical Definition: | A grouping of flightless birds consisting of four orders: the Apterygiformes, which includes Kiwi birds; the Casuariiformes, which includes EMUS; the Rheiformes, or RHEAS; and the Struthioniformes, or OSTRICHES. |
Also Called: | Kiwi Bird |
Previously Indexed: | Birds (1968-1998) |
Emus - Members of the Casuariiformes, an order of flightless, running birds. The Emu is the only surviving member of the family Dromeidae. They naturally inhabit forests, open plains, and grasslands in Australia. | |
Ostriches - Flightless birds of the order Struthioniformes which naturally inhabit open, low rainfall areas of Africa. | |
Rheas - Members of the Rheiformes, a South American order of large, long-necked, long-legged, flightless birds, sometimes called American ostriches, though in a separate order from true OSTRICHES. |
Ratites Medical Definitions and Terms
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